A California community has been left distraught after city officials tore up a local garden and public space that local volunteers spent hours improving.
Residents of the Alviso community in San Jose, California, have taken to social media to rage over the city's decision to remove their local garden.
In a post to the r/SanJose subreddit, a community member shared photos of what the public community patio area used to look like after the transformation. In the images, the garden can be seen filled with a variety of plants and flowers. Despite being supported by residents and local law enforcement photographed in the garden, the community member claimed the city wanted to see the area "ugly and dry."
"It's sad to see, the community would love to work with the city but they make it impossible to do so. 30+ years of empty promises with no change, and they ask why the community keeps doing projects on their own," the post read.
In a separate video uploaded to YouTube, community member Marcus Manosa shared what the area looked like after the city tore up the shared space.
What was once filled with the beds of colorful flowers now looks like a blank canvas of concrete and dirt.
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"[It's] very disturbing and just backwards thinking for the city to do something like that," Manosa said, adding that the city should have held a meeting with community members if they disagreed with the improvements made.
"But to come in and just destroy it with no kind of landscaping, it's just unthinkable, unimaginable, and just a waste of taxpayers money to do something like that," he said.
Green and garden spaces are extremely beneficial for young children and adults alike in urban settings. Not only can these shared spaces increase mental health and physical activity, new research has found that living near green spaces can slow down your aging process.
Hundreds of Reddit users have offered advice on how to protect this shared California garden, including contacting local media outlets, starting a petition, and speaking with the city's mayor and council members.
"That's disgusting that they did that. I'm so sorry… it was so beautiful," one user said.
"Welp i guess this is a reminder to vote," another commented.
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